Common Eider

The Common Eiders (Somateria Mollissima) are the largest of all northern ducks. They are characterized by elongate sloping head profiles. Both sexes have conspicuous membranous extensions of the bill that form bare frontal shields or processes extending up almost to the eyes, the shape of which varies depending on the race. Drakes are a contrast in black and white, with soft salmon-pink often tinting the white breast during the breeding season. Delicate pale sea-green adorns their nape and upper neck. The Common Eider (Somateria Mollissima) complex is subdivided into six circumpolar races, most of which are geographically distinct. Drakes differ in overall size and color, extend of feathering along the bill, shape of frontal processes, and variation and intensity of neck and head coloration. The European Eiders are straight and the tips of the Y-shaped frontal processes are nearly pointed. The slightly smaller American Eiders with a head and bill slope that shows a forehead dome, and a large, broadly rounded frontal processes. The Pacific Eiders more than six pounds with a bright orange-red bill and a black throat. The Hudson Bay Eiders with bare frontal processes. The Northern Eiders rather short with narrow bare frontal processes and the orange-yellow drake bill which shades to gray-green from the nostril to the nail. And the smaller-billed Faeroe Eiders. Habitually flying in small flocks, often in single-file lines or abreast, Common Eiders (Somateria Mollissima) sometimes travel in compact mixed groups. In stormy weather, they are apt to follow the troughs between large swells when the ducks disappear behinds waves. Feeding chiefly on ebbing or low tides, Common Eiders (Somateria Mollissima) are almost exclusively dependent on benthic organisms. The shellfish diet gives their flash a strong fishy flavor. Blue mussels are favored. They required about 11 ounces of food daily. They avoid strong waves and strong winds, they prefer swallow waters and can dive to at least 60 feet, and remain submerged for more than a minute. Common Eiders (Somateria Mollissima) court socially in winter and spring, when the aggressive males fight with much flailing of their wings amid splashing. Female often return to the same nesting area of previous seasons. The nests consist of foundations of matted seaweed, mosses and grasses and are located in shallow depressions